AMERICAN MINES.

CHAP. XXI.

In a country like Mexico , where the population,though much extended, was numerous, as thecapital to set labour in a state of active operationwas augmented, it was natural that the chief ob-ject to which that labour was applied should be-come more and more productive.

Mexico , in the age under consideration, yieldedgold as well as silver. It was found sometimesalone, but more commonly in the silver and otherores, and when so found was separated by a sub-sequent process. Without entering more minutelyinto a subject where all the ancient documentsare obscure, we may safely conclude with Hum-boldt that the whole of the precious metals pro-duced in Mexico had so increased between 1600and 1700, that, in the last ten years of the cen-tury, the mines delivered to the mints, in goldand silver, to the amount of more than fivemillions of piastres. Upon a review of what isrecorded of Peru , Columbia, Chili, and BuenosAyres, as it has since been called, we concludethat the quantity supplied by them in the samecentury was somewhat larger. Taking these toge-ther, we average them at ten million five hundredthousand dollars or piastres. Besides what wassupplied to the mints, and paid the duty to thecrown, the same accurate writer calculates thatone-fifth part of both metals was conveyed awayby contraband means—a calculation by no meansunreasonable when the high duty is considered,